Dynamic Integration of Supply-Chain Network

The integration of suppliers into Fedex's structure adds value to Fedex's customers. As price competition ceases to be a global force supplier's role will be to add value not just to reduce costs. Customers and suppliers will work together and form inter-Fedex's teams, which will facilitate improved communication between Fedex and increase rate of learning. Benefits will be gained from effects of sharing mutual experience and knowledge, which will result in whole chain, becoming better aligned with final customer's requirements and objectives.

Virtual Fedex's Structure

The workforce for many Fedex will be decentralised and even home-based via interactive networks. 'Why pay for an office that is available for 160 hours per week when it is being used for only 20-40 hours per week? '. ' The merging of information technology and telecommunications has seen a revolution in our society, which will continue and allow for communication from any number of locations. This virtual Fedex will see managers, computer processors, journalists, consultants, designers and many others, all communicating from their own homes and from their customer's premises.

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Such areas as technical, research, marketing and information technology functions could be relocated offsite. We shall see emergence of virtual team using teleconferencing through laptop computers and other devices. The successful Fedex's focus will shift from a control-based to a trust-based system through dedicated, trustworthy and loyal employees. Technological innovation Ground breaking technology will transform many functions of Fedex. Fedex will need to be dynamic, flexible and cherish impermanence and thrive on chaos.

Technology will dramatically change way we communicate, work and socialise. Technological innovation will also improve work processes and accommodate horizontal workflows by providing cross-functional information flows and performance feedback.  People come first Instead of producing moribund Fedex's personnel by forcing individual to comply with tightly defined corporate norms, companies must find ways to encourage creativity and to nurture and utilise each employee's unique knowledge and capabilities.

World-class Fedex will increasingly treat their employees as their most important assets. Despite pervasive influence of technological innovation most successful enterprises will be ones with quickest reactions, innovative management and best people. Team-based Fedex's structure Participative management through teams will increasingly replace hierarchical structures of today. High-performance teams will manage their direct environment and be instrumental in setting relevant Fedex's goals. Clearly communicated vision and objectives

Fedex will need to be tightly focused and highly specialised. The emphasis will be on distinguishing core capabilities, supporting core processes and all other activities will be outsourced. Fedex will need a strong purpose and vision and be focused on its core values in order to make work, meaningful and attract, motivate and retain outstanding people. Fedex's purpose will be more than just increasing profit or market share; it will reflect an ongoing commitment to adding value to employees, customers and wider community.

Authentic leadership will relate to initiating and maintaining momentum in process improvement and will increasingly concentrate on formulating and implementing Fedex-wide strategies. This strategic intent will include attempts to redefine industries, to break rules and to focus on medium to long term. Visionary leadership will be assessed not in terms of charisma but by its success in building on strength of Fedex by preserving core values and by stimulating progress towards trust based relationships within and without Fedex.

Culture and Leadership Fred Smith, creative leader of Fedex, instilled that wherever business is conducted, use of Fedex's core values is an important ingredient to success. Under Smith's direction, Fedex has become a major technology user. The use of IT to its business enabled Fedex to surpass rest of industry and acknowledge Fred Smith as "visionary who forced his and other companies to think outside proverbial one. " (Mintzberg, 2000, 89-96)

Smith's objective was to outsmart his competitors and attempt to gain a competitive advantage. He rationed that company "should acquire its own transportation fleet while competitors were buying space on commercial airlines and sub-contracting their shipments to third parties. " Even though Fedex did not see any profit until 1976, it earned reputation of being "absolutely, positively" reliable on its overnight delivery commitments, "an image that has become fundamental to Fedex's overall success. "

The introduction of new technology allowed Fedex to install more than 100,000 sets of PC's with its own software allowing customers to be linked and logged into their ordering and tracking system in early and mid 1980's. The emergence of PC's loaded with Fedex software transformed customer base into an electronic network. This was more important because computers were still uncommon and expensive, so use of this type of program seemed radical. "Smith's vision, well before commercial launch of Internet, was that information about package is just as important as package itself.

" "Information enables corporate customers to tighten their order-to-delivery cycle, exercise just-in-time (JIT) inventory management, and synchronize production levels to market demand. " (Wit and Meyer, 2004, 65) Employee performance is something Smith firmly believes in and is set in providing as much information as necessary to all of his employees for them to perform their jobs in an efficient manner. "Fedex's quality of service became synonymous with quality of information provided to its workforce.

The "People-Service-Profit" philosophy was exactly what Smith wanted to portray to his employees, company, and competitors. "Fedex was first transportation company to install computer terminals into all Fedex vehicles, and to issue hand-held barcode scanner systems to its drivers so that real-time information on package status would be available to customers. " The application of these changed way Fedex employees processed and gathered information. (Mintzberg, 2000, 89-96) Using Internet was another stage that Fedex felt could increase their production and service.

In November 1994, Fedex launched a Website that included package-tracking capabilities. Jim Barksdale, former CIO and COO of Fedex, and then CEO of Netscape, says, "It was first outward and visible demonstration of a practical, productive use of Internet by a real business for a real business purpose. " One of most important contributions to Internet's formative years was Smith's appreciation for technology.  The creation of Internet meant Fedex could build one-to-one relationships with its customers.

The corporate culture of Fedex was based on superior customer service and displayed an attitude of "doing whatever it takes to serve customers" from top to bottom. The expansion of Internet, therefore, was something Fedex could use to enhance its customer base and create a competitive service advantage. "It allowed Fedex to not only let its customers pull real time information and data into their internal systems, but also to become more involved in internal processes of its customers. " "Smith's vision and leadership has been a major contributing factor in transforming Fedex into an E-business.

Although there was no consciously planned strategy to build an E-business, decisions that company made to align organization structure with systems and processes has carved out a model for building a successful business for twenty-first century. " Under Smith's leadership, core of Fedex's strategy has been to "use IT to help customers take advantage of international markets. " However, of greater significance is its "information super highway", which lends support to transportation logistics efficiency as well as selling and supply chain logistics solutions management.

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